The Jacksons
by Waiting for a Demigod
Summary: First she meets this boy Percy Jackson, then everything goes downhill from there. She finds out she's a half blood, she figures out she's not an orphan, Zeus's lightning bolt is stolen, she and Percy are framed, AND she has to go on this quest to prove Percy and herself innocent. This is Uncle Rick's book, just with new characters and a new POV.


p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="b541fd299cf1347c9b2b2ac494136d10"Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="0ababe3f97bc05a2a6e102187d09acfd"If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is close this book right now./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="7d90979a08aa4c65eaca17ac7d79eb54"Believe whatever lie your friend told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="4f1b4a053e31dac2defd36557205632f"Being a half-blood is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways. If you're a regular kid, reading this because you think it's fiction, great./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="a9bc00a675f82b33a298c6f98f04156c"Read on. I am jealous of you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened. But if you recognize yourself in these pages-if you feel something inside-stop reading immediately. You could be one of us. Once you know that, it's only a matter of time before they sense it too, and they'll come for you. Don't say I didn't warn you./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="920e87e8ba1c6f18c0e172e4e88f3e0a"My name is Christina Valentine Jackson-just Chris though. I'm twelve years old./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="c48d0a451088c73e3464eb9bab631de3"Until a few months ago, I was an orphan-or at least that's what I thought. I was also a student at Maddison Academy, a private school for troubled girls in upstate New York./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="c8eb68cd52a29d51f3f9aa318d8f83ad"Am I a troubled girl?/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="a1fb2242285e3490478abdcf3130711d"Yeah. You could say that./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="3c2eaa5f3b746d40b828796ad0a92e40"I could start at any point in my short miserable life to prove it, but things really started going bad last May, when our sixth-grade class took a field trip to Manhattan- twenty-eight mental-case girls and two teachers on a yellow school bus, heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff. I know-it sounds like torture. Most Maddison field trips were. But Mr. Castellan, our Latin teacher, was leading this trip, so I had hopes./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="91a71e620ce38e9a331ef6fea5fcb361"Mr. Castellan was about nineteen, and he looked pretty cool. He was tall and muscular, with short-cropped sandy hair and a friendly smile. He usually just wore an orange tank top, cutoffs, sandals, and a leather necklace with five different-colored clay beads. The only thing unsettling about his appearance was a thick white scar that ran from just beneath his right eye to his jaw, like an old knife slash. If you think he would be cool. . . you'd be totally right. He told stories and jokes and let us play games in class./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="2594aef1d2bcf3719bc4a5e8c83c0373"He also had this awesome collection of Roman armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put me to sleep.I hoped the trip would be okay. At least, I hoped that for once I wouldn't get in trouble./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="3efcd9c19b9a80a3e9423b1e91906cbd"Man, was I wrong. See, bad things happen to me on field trips./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="0b88fb133701eeb7ca371c8743139fa1"Like at my third-grade school, our class took a field trip to the science museum and I may or may not have let all the bees out. And at my fifth-grade school when we went to the Saratoga battlefield, I was hanging out with this guy and we had this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon. We weren't aiming for the school bus, but of course we both got expelled anyway. And the time before that... Well, you get the idea./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="9b7414753ccf25778a1911e3dc389ac9"This trip, I was determined to be good./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="46570e32587c025be74011e2a92cab5c"All the way into the city, I put up with my best friend, Adelene (Al for short), pestering me about which Maroon 5 song was better: I Fell or another song-I forgot the name. She was doing this on purpose. She knew I hated pop music. She also knew I couldn't do anything about it, because I was already in probation. The head Mistress threatened me with in-school-probation if anything even mildly funny happened on this trip./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="6950e3c5da7f781d67d858a9f179ef92""Al," I whined. "Why are you doing this to me? I'M GONNA DIE FROM THESE TORTURES!"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="bb86d302d657eebbef3ae2d346700899"She laughed. "Oh, I'm not done," She told me. "I'm doing Fall Out Boy next. MWAHAHAHA! ! !"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="9f08b77b41abd0cc5861a94d1b4eee0f"I faked wiped a tear away, "I'm so proud! You are turning evil!" I said to her./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="c51c33f83674a59d60323958078cff74"She continued talking about Maroon 5./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="f92427c01bd3c3ca8187bdeca422cf69"I ran out of the bus as soon as it was parked./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="6ec068ee762cbd31bfdfb8b6900bfaea""YES!" I yelled. "NO MORE MAROON 5!"-and back to my boring tour./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="7dee72e706b15b1511e5121c4b37a7ea"Mr. Castellan led the museum tour. When we got to the front entrance, I looked to my right and saw another school group taking a tour. I looked at one guy in particular and it was like I was looking into a guy mirror (a mirror that turns you into what you would look like as a guy-they should make those). We made eye contact. Most girls would usually blush and turn away, but I just had a stare down with him./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="d782e1796ccc879e54b2500e4fad8c87""Okay, is it just me or are you looking into a guy mirror?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="0e89047bc25cf0f31e5821a89c303fbe"Al style="box-sizing: border-box;"'Phew! It's not just me.'/em I thought, but just shook my head./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="029d1789ffb41c9c6c3eadcec1c61427"Mr. Castellan was guiding us through the big echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-orange pottery. It blew my mind that this stuff had survived for two thousand, three thousand years. He gathered us around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, and started telling us how it was a grave marker, a stele, for a girl about our age. He told us about the carvings on the sides. I was trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was kind of interesting, but everybody around me was talking.I didn't want to get into trouble. . .again, so I didn't call them out./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="8fabdadcd56de7325706c1d5ec61cc25"After Mr. Castellan was finished talking, he said to go outside and eat our lunch. The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="79109f94bb58f84690f773cc0a058d5c"Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city. I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York state had been weird since Christmas. We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in. Nobody else seemed to notice. Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers. And a girl was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse, and, of course, nobody was seeing a thing./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="a5f8be7385db2998b53f1f8346fc2352"Al and I sat on the edge of the fountain, with the other school. We thought that maybe if we did that, everybody wouldn't know we were from that school-the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere. I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about the orphanage, only a little ways uptown from where we sat. I hadn't seen Ms. Shurly since Christmas. I wanted so bad to jump in a taxi and head home. She'd hug me and be glad to see me, but she'd be disappointed, too. She'd send me right back to Maddison, remind me that I had to try harder, even if this was my sixth school in six years and I was probably going to be kicked out again. I wouldn't be able to stand that sad look she'd give me./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="2c33bb988650a8a781432b02d67867c5"I dragged Al along with me to go see mystery boy. He was with this guy that kinda looked like Al (who had straight hair), except with curly hair./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="b28966c19eee5db935dd0ad8203accf6""Grover!" Al yelled just the same as mystery boy's friend screamed, "Al!"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="ef5ec118fadeaec37bf1f2803f162c10"I'm assuming they know each other. Random guess./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="dc36dbfb899fd39334d32a764b483748""Sup. The name is Chris," I said to mystery boy while sticking out my hand, "Chris Jackson."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="132f7de7db965d2f3c9a90333bc2c696""Hey, I'm Percy," The boy said while shaking my hand, "Percy Jackson."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="6b4f6217a44fab11f02b83f62b70e801""Oh cool. We have the same last name! This is so sick." I exclaimed excitedly./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="aaa2f25314c592f6cb518ac6ff0f8477""Have they been feeding you Mexican food?" I heard Grover ask Al./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="b3839a2e0779c1a11fd5538a1936cef2""Oh my gods, no!" Al said half angry and half sad./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="0698936fc0a51cd0c8334445b39a2c2d""How can you live?!" Grover practically yelled./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="0d6216da67437bbceb2fd548bb1e40c5""It seems as though those two know each other." Percy said while laughing./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="e8121416c8e6c8b368c4495f69aca02c"Suddenly, this familiar girl approached us./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="135a6571e2541194158d426a949dbf4e"Then something clicked and I stood up./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="a492a82cd879ccfcfe4ec613b33bb3fd""Nancy Bobofit." I growled./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="50ca5cdda07008c2a8bb78ca18196517""Oh hello little orphan girl. No one to adopt you yet? Oh that's right, nobody in their right mind would adopt a snotty brat like you." She said./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="8fac6539cb70da6248d34d8c0405dab8""Then why did anyone adopt you?" Was my comeback./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="a40ad0f2fee5e86d4804e06fdcf6fca9""Woah, woah, woah." Percy interrupted, "You two know each other?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="bfb7ac0c51447c30666819790366ba77""No, we're just throwing insults to each other because we don't know each other. Yeah. We used to bunk together at Ms. Shurley's" I answered somewhat sarcasticly, leaving out the part about the orphanage./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="12104824bf7ca3a25dbdbbffe16d4d4e"I was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Al's and Grover's laps./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="eb487ec31b26d7080b13c3d82fef58e6""Oops." She grinned at us with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spraypainted her face with liquid Cheetos./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="425ed016c103ebc5511c635475323108"I tried to stay cool. The school counselor had told me, like, a billion times, "Count to ten, get control of your temper."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="6ef5def470eb165ec5287fb0218834c5"But I was so mad my mind went blank. A wave roared in my ears./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="230a26e5fee6cf4d0d387456b0dfb601"I don't remember touching her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, screaming, "Chris pushed me!"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="ee33cac377a63cadaacc4dcf8265c029"Some lady materialized next to us./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="5af297f1cf50a991adf5092d6d6ba34b"Some of the kids from the other school were whispering: "Did you see-"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="68e42af2630243ecde2d489d2067b9e3""-the water-"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="0febf166960f9332bc4e8cbef3b854a6""-like it grabbed her-"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="73912b5bc4eec8a1508feeb7f406e06a"I didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was in trouble. . . . again. As soon as the lady was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, etc., etc., she turned on us. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if I had done something she'd been waiting for all semester./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="5c1b7f2cd9deb1503445384ce8748eb6""Now, honey-"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="c8af2c8d6045807f9a55d93ad924334c""I know," Percy grumbled. "A month erasing workbooks."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="ece76d1cf7a9e0111f0c320c1a2e0d42"That wasn't the right thing to say./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="f7e7ca4cf1da8aefed306526cb65e0d1""Come with me," Mrs. Dodds-I was just making up names for her- said./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="3fab31ae53ee45995d0876a6d12d8a8b""Wait!" I said. "It was me. I pushed her."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="2c2bec5a8b74e77e1fbacb7c5fe12be9"She glared at me so hard, I thought her eyes would pop out. Ooh, that would be funny. "I don't think so, Ms. Jackson," she said./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="55f5d8b453041ddce98aadc4356311f0""But-"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="1d8d5b56792c9c47776ba31c2fb1ced2""You-will-stay-here."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="4bfccd08cab8161a625e4da1f7d10baa""It's okay, man," He told me. "Thanks for trying."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="a21008dce12491c208fce67781cacf0a""Honey," Mrs. Manatee barked at him. "Now."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="04abdcbb76badbf78f420860e1173f89""No," I said loudly, "I pushed her. Ask Nancy. Go ahead, ask."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="538691c73d59d7fb4752a595a7e31a3d""Both of you come." Mrs. Fendel said impatiently and I thought I heard her mumble, "Kids these days." classic./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="dd0d9531bf8e49a8fdbe4efc35623ea5"Nancy Bobofit smirked. I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare. Then Percy and I turned to face Mrs. Cerak, but she wasn't there. She was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently at me to come on. How'd she get there so fast? I have moments like that a lot, when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I know I've missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left me staring at the blank place behind it. The school counselor told me this was part of the ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things. I wasn't so sure./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="f78924b6fb671250ed75bbefb4346565"I went after Mrs. Herioto. Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Al. She was looking pale, cutting his eyes between me and Mr. Castellan, like he wanted Mr. Castellan to notice what was going on, but Mr. Castellan was absorbed in his novel. I looked back up./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="5b5b59ffc6f691cc3fb87488aef463c9"Mrs. Ferdinaned had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="25c031290a8590d1d05f4c611f9bee9d"Okay, I thought. She's going to make us buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop. But apparently that wasn't the plan./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="62cb9da63bc9a6c5158a4fcc4a0da19b"We followed her deeper into the museum. When we finally caught up to her, we were back in the Greek and Roman section. Except for us, the gallery was empty./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="a058a9ea3ab9a32d58eeb0f43fb15821"Mrs. Yab stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling. Even without the noise, I would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs. Gernt. S/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="d394675ffc4d52b637bed91fd4401af9"omething about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to pulverize it.../p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="b8b54557cecd5140aa2d4f7182de3089""You've been giving us problems, honey," she said./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="64d08c112889273fd1db650275335e9a"Percy did the safe thing. He said, "Yes, ma'am."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="938b594ad3b49c2cc59e1d26f1f18f27"She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with it?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="94b6a9894b0804919933b3d5729c3783"Now was time to but in, "Um, I don't go to this school, so how could I have been giving you problems?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="371a67878be8f1bb8b84ddeca7bc11f6"The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="dc4b1f54b7abd4af6ff0fbdf0cf29508""Don't play dumb!" She screamed. What crawled up her pants and died?/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="0188635f8ac03b37ac8e8a05294cf2df"She's a teacher, I thought nervously. It's not like she's going to hurt me./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="fc27870fefea7d59973654bf08ac5ebe"Percy said, "I'll-I'll try harder, ma'am."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="d958b9ba118bb0ae1ef71ee7b35fd9ff"Thunder shook the building./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="1104c45c9608c9aa89b435469e28fbb8""We are not fools, Percy and Chris Jackson," Mrs. Jecthe said. "It was only a matter of time before we found you two out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain." I didn't know what she was talking about. I looked at Percy and I could tell that he was just as confused as I was./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="523d7bfc2aa77edabd6f846b4f8adfb1""Well?" she demanded./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="2eba04f577f215bd07b2637283fb0239""Ma'am, I don't..."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="79626f36853e67979bf8a766882831cc""Your time is up," she hissed. Then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="6617f157c57f468b815ae674e5c237d5"Then things got even 's teacher, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding two pens in his hand./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="df61bc7cb0ddd18a9adb5413c539f98f""What ho, Percy! Catch, Christina!" he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air to Percy, and to me. I didn't have time to comprehend that he called me that . Snoo lunged at me./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="9b58803b0899d9aa59a7de300665f52b"With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. I snatched the pen out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a watch anymore. It was a silver sword-Mr. Castellan silver sword, which he always used on tournament day. Mrs. Dodds spun toward me with a murderous look in her eyes. She snarled, "Die, honey!" And she flew straight at me. I did the only thing that came naturally: I plunged the sword in her stomach just the same time as Percy stabbed her in the shoulder. The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="958f674aaafc43347c61a7427286cd5a"Hisss!/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="e581683d9e8d0153e453b05a5a7f2e35"Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="3caa0edc2ba8461700b7075bea758de9"She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching were alone. There was a pen in both mine and Percy's 's teacher wasn't there. Nobody was there but us./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="009f5f0c19c7eb1be62bd9db936467a6"My hands were still trembling./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="ce05db91243b1e1ea6378e4f76803098"My lunch must've been contaminated with magic pizza or something./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="8dc648a30964a1bae299c09128b334c2"We looked at each other./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="6bc171f810b981908851a5d355ecfc90"Had we imagined the whole thing?/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="d752654b847beecd6cd04ca74b56c66c"We went back outside./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="4ad6fa4918eae8bfc2f446902fe5e19c"It had started to rain. Grover and Al were sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over their heads. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw us, she said,/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="38a1d29b7b24d2f9690966b5e0693ae5""I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="cfeda75ba195c9790f30da781dc09ad8"Percy said, "Who?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="30abc256fab72615b41373232d5829c8""Our teacher. Duh!" I blinked. Percy asked Nancy what she was talking about. She just rolled her eyes and turned away. Percy asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds-so that was her name- was./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="66e4dc81e4ba41bed130f05beb08d6b1"He said, "Who?" But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at us. He was lying./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="faa9a4898b35eb546c745d4295bf0eb9""Not funny, man," Percy told him. "This is serious."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="647d1795c284c97e1602f3ea1ef54725"Thunder boomed overhead. I saw Percy's teacher sitting under his red umbrella, with Mr. Castellan, reading his book, as if he'd never moved./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="292a14921bc2b1f9358c845b6713b505"Percy and I went over to him./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="993bcdd749faf4b7fa3b696bc5f7ff65"He looked up, a little distracted./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="88ed995c0676e2d1755a61eb6a547f78""Ah, those would be my pens. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. and Ms. Jackson."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="aafb7d739ca52793fc17ff66c911fb13"Percy and I handed Mr. Brunner his pens./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="8e414d9e5e50eb2266900725df352e19"I hadn't even realized I was still holding mine./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="1d2b2f5f6a854b2a56e1bd7400dd3a56""Sir," Percy said, "where's Mrs. Dodds?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="3f77d4bfa9f9c193545905b45b95f0df"He stared at him blankly. "Who?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="0a1a4ec9935e65e76a1f5b6bc078389f""The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="3e4a46d1e081cdc53ecbf59a463fbf26"He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling alright?"/p 


End file.
